Storm watch: Little local impact from Isaac

August 27, 2012

As Tropical Storm Isaac headed toward the Gulf Coast states Monday, Cape Coral and Lee County reported little to no damage from the passing storm.

The city discontinued its local state of emergency at 8 a.m. Monday and public safety-related services returned to normal operations, according to spokesperson Connie Barron. City Hall and city facilities reopen Tuesday.

"No reports of damage in the city," she reported in a statement.

While the city's Emergency Operations Center closed Monday morning, the EOC's call center remained open until noon. Employees conducting a sweep of the city for outstanding issues reported only minor incidents as of 9 a.m.

A shelter at Island Coast High School was closed Sunday night and the half-dozen evacuees were moved to South Fort Myers High School, Barron noted.

John Wilson, director of Lee County's public safety, reported Monday afternoon that all of the hurricane shelters had been closed.

"We've had a few reports of some minor flooding on the roadways due to high water, the high tides," he said. "No significant damages."

Wilson attributed the lack of impact by Isaac to the storm's track.

"It slipped further west than it was initially forecast," he said, adding that Lee County basically experienced rain and some gusty wind conditions.

"The only thing that we're looking at down the road that may be of concern is any sheetflow flooding," Wilson said.

Sheetflow flooding typically occurs in the days following an event.

Lee County Public Schools will be open Tuesday, along with county buildings.

Karen Ryan, spokesperson for the Lee County Electric Cooperative, said there were about 2,000 customers without power at about noon on Sunday, with 1,300 on Marco Island. There were 700 without power an hour later.

"We just kept restoring power," she said.

As of Monday morning, the last two customers were back online.

There were no damages reported to LCEC's system.

"Our system held up really well," Ryan said.

"For us, today is business as usual," she added.

Comcast spokesperson Bill Ferry echoed that Monday.

"For us, it's business as usual," he said.

The cable system also did not sustain any damage.

"There are a couple of minor pockets of outages, but they're related to commercial power being off," Ferry said, adding that as power is restored "those services will come right back online."